IT’S HERE! THE OXFORD VACCINE THAT COULD SAVE THE WORLD HAS ARRIVED
Arriving in a humble cardboard box... the great Oxford vaccine that could save the world
BORIS JOHNSON last night hailed the arrival of the Oxford vaccine as a ‘triumph of British science’ and said he was ‘confident this is the year we will defeat coronavirus’.
The first batches yesterday began arriving at UK hospitals, including the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath, West Sussex, where laboratory technician Lukasz Najdrowski carefully removed the packs of vials from a cardboard box.
With an initial 530,000 doses available from tomorrow, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the addition of the Oxford vaccine to the Pfizer drug which has been in use since December 8 meant ‘the end is in sight’.
About two-thirds of the million doses delivered UK-wide by New Year’s Eve have been used to vaccinate those over 80, meaning about a fifth of that highly vulnerable age group have received their first jab.
Mr Hancock added: ‘The vaccine is our way out and this huge achievement brings us a step closer to the normality we’ve all been working hard to reclaim.’
Hundreds of new vaccination sites will begin to provide injections this week, joining 700 already in operation.
‘The Oxford vaccine is a triumph of British science and I want to thank everyone involved in its development and production,’ the Prime Minister said.
‘From tomorrow, the NHS will start using the Oxford vaccine to give protection against Covid-19.’
The deployment of the Oxford vaccine will accelerate the programme as, unlike the Pfizer drug, it does not need to be stored at very cold temperatures so is far easier to distribute.
The first doses of the Oxford jab will be given at the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Five other trusts – Brighton, Nuneaton, Lancaster and two in London – will also start providing injections from tomorrow, ahead of it being rolled out to other hospitals and GP surgeries.
By the end of this week, 160 hospital sites across England plus more than 800 GP surgeries should be offering Covid vaccinations. Jabs are also being given at dozens more hospitals and scores more surgeries across Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Ministers are keen to ‘step on the gas’ to ensure that the 15 million people most at risk from Covid-19 get their dose within the next ten weeks. A source said the Government hoped to deliver up to 1.5 million vaccines this week alone – comprising the 530,000 Oxford doses and a million Pfizer shots.
That should rise to two million a week from early February – the rate seen as necessary to prevent a devastating third wave.
To help speed up the process, community pharmacies will be used alongside hospitals and GP surgeries from next week.
NHS England chief executive Sir Simon Stevens said the arrival of the Oxford vaccine marked ‘a major milestone in humanity’s battle against coronavirus’.
He added: ‘The vaccination programme – the biggest in NHS history – has got off to a strong start, and by New Year’s Day we’d been able to vaccinate more people than the rest of Europe combined. Now we have a second, more versatile, jab in our armoury, and NHS staff are expanding the programme as extra vaccine supplies come onstream, and the arrival of the Oxford jab, coupled with more Pfizer vaccine being made available, will allow us to protect many more people faster.’
The initial supplies of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine have been produced by a company called Halix in the Netherlands.
Once produced in bulk, the vaccine goes to a plant in Wrexham, run by an Indian company called Wockhardt, where it is decanted into vials in a process known as ‘fill and finish’. The plant can bottle at least 150,000 doses a day.
The team at Oxford’s specialist vaccines and immunology centre, the Jenner Institute, developed the Covid-19 vaccine by adapting one they were already working on for a related coronavirus.
Meanwhile, Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi has criticised a Labour MP who attacked the decision to change the policy on administering second doses.
After the Government said the second jab would be given 12 weeks after the first, rather than three, Clive Lewis tweeted: ‘Next they’ll be suggesting the second vaccine dose can be substituted with bleach.’ Mr Zahawi replied: ‘Clive, this is irresponsible of you.’
‘A major milestone in our battle against the virus’